Harry Potter and the Power Pendants
by Curry Spice
Summary: PERMANENTLY INCOMPLETE. Why? Because I hate it yet I can't stand to delete any of my work.Harry, Hermione and Ron's fifth year at Hogwarts, strange occurances are taking place, but who is causing them?
1. Owl Post

_ **Harry Potter and the Power Pendants- Chapter One**  
  
  
_Harry ran as fast as he could, dodging the thousands of curses coming at him from all directions. He ducked under an angel to catch his breath. Just as he was about to start running again, an ivory white hand seized his upper arm. Harry was pulled down with extraordinary force and his ankle was completely crushed now. Voldemort pulled out his wand at the exact moment that Harry pulled out his. They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds until Harry screamed "Explelliarmus" and Voldemort bellowed "Avada Kedavra" (a/n: kinda like de ja vous...that is how u spell it.. rite?). A golden beam of light connected the wands as the two spells collided in air. Voldemort, at first looking utterly perplexed, now looked completely deranged. Harry couldn't help smiling as this had just happened for the second time in a row. As the light started breaking apart to form a dome, and the heavenly phoenix song began, Voldemort began tapping and hitting his wand against the angel to break the connection...._  
  
Tap, Tap, Tap  
  
Tap, Tap, _BANG!!!  
  
"Ahhh!!!!!... Oh god, its just you Hedwig..." Harry woke with a start, looked up at the window and saw Hedwig smacking himself against it with full force. He thought back to the dream he had just had. It was the same one he had been having since he got back from Hogwarts. Every night, he would wake with a start exactly the moment Voldemort began tapping the angel. At first Harry thought this was another promonition but seeing as to the fact that his scar didn't hurt, he didn't bother telling anyone about it.   
Harry got out of bed, slightly dizzy, and walked up to the window. With difficulty he opened the clasp and let in a very disgruntled Hedwig, along with four other indignant birds. All five of them, Hedwig holding a small package, Pigwidgeon carrying a rather limp-looking Errol who had a huge box tied to his claws, a school barn owl holding a small envelope, and a bright purple, elegant looking bird with a green sphere-shaped package literally collapsed onto his bed. Harry groaned loudly, almost forgetting about the Dursleys, and sat heavily on the beige carpet. He had almost forgotten that today was his birthday... his 15th birthday to be exact...  
  
"Might as well open these..." he murmured through the silence.  
  
  
Hedwig's package being closest, was first to be torn. It revealed a small crystal framed mirror- except it wasn't a mirror at all. In fact, Harry recognized this as a miniature version of his old Defence Against the Dark Arts professor's foe-glass. He eagerly grabbed a peice of parchment lying at the bottom of the package. It read:  
  
Harry,  
Hope you're having a good birthday!!!! How are you? I hope your aunt,   
uncle, and Dudley aren't giving you too much trouble. I've been over-  
whelmed with work these days. Mum and dad had me enrolled into an art   
school for the last months. Its at a new school at Diagon Alley called the A.   
Dumbledore School of Wizarding Arts. As you probably noticed, it was   
named after Dumbledore. Stupid, really, to name an art school after him.   
It would make more sense for it to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts   
College, or a Dueling Center.   
I've been getting the Daily prophet delivered to my house lately so I   
can keep up. Rita Skeeter broke our promise and, being the nosy and  
inconsiderate...cow that she is, wrote all about the chaos that took place  
after the third task. I sent a letter to the Daily Prophet employer's unit  
telling them about Rita's little secret. They fired her from their group of   
reporters and she had to pay a fine! (a/n: our evil hermione cackles insanely...very witch-like...)  
You-Know-Who has murdered 7 people and 24 wizards in the past   
month. I think that by now Fugde (a/n: mmmm.... that sounds good....)   
should have accepted his return to power. One of the wizards he killed was  
unfortunately Cyril Brown, Lavendar's father.  
I was wondering, since we always seem to end up with Ron's family  
over the summer, why not mine this year? Ron already agreed to come  
on Tuesday at 5:30. Can you ask your family if you can come also? If   
yes/no ( I really don't care), we'll, my parents and I , pick you up at 6 PM   
on Tuesday. Don't worry, my father can DRIVE.  
  
Hermione  
  
  
P.S.: Your present is a Foe-glass, isn't it cool? I found it at a small shop   
when I was visiting my grandmother. Its a mirror that always shows vague   
images of your enemies. As your enemy gets closer to you, the images   
become sharper until you can see what they are doing. It should come in  
handy.  
  
  
Harry smiled as he re-folded the parchment and packed up the box again. He would have to ask the Dursley's if he could go, it would make things much easier. He wondered how they would take it and couldn't supress a grin as he remembered their last encounter with wizards. he looked over to where the rest of the birds were. Harry impatiently disentangled Pigwigdeon from Errol, put Errol in Hedwig's cage, and ripped the paper off of their bundle. Inside was a box of three mince pies, home-made fudge, a letter and another box. He broke off a corner of the fudge and began chewing it. It was, as always, excellent. Then, remembering the letter, he picked it up and began reading.  
  
Harry,  
Happy Birthday!!! Three days until we meet at Hermione's! My dad  
insists on personally dropping me off so he can "meet" the Grangers.  
"Explore their house", more likely.  
Are the muggles treating you well? If they aren't, just send for Fred   
and George! Speaking of them, they already reserved a counterpart of   
Zonko's in some place up north. I have no idea how, but they managed   
to make a whole lot of money by the end of last year, about eleven   
hundred galleons to be exact. They bought Ginny and me some new   
school and dress robes, Mercury 360's (they are a new kind of broom-  
stick, faster than the Nimbus 2001, but still slower than the Firebolt) for  
everyone, reserved an area for their store, and they gave the rest to Mum  
and Dad.   
I hope you like your presnt, see you at Hermione's on Tuesday!  
  
Ron  
  
Harry smiled, glad that Fred and George had shared the money he had given them. He turned his attention to the other box and slowly opened it. It turned out to be... a red twig? Searching frantically on the twig for a button or something (a/n: because clearly, our hottie can't get such a crappy present) his eyes fell on a peice of parchment on the wrappings:  
  
This is an ever-lasting glow light. You have to say the same   
thing you'd say to light a wand (a/n: "lumos", you idiots!!!) and  
it only gives light to the person holding it. I think the light's color  
depends on the person holding it. Enjoy!  
  
  
Ron  
  
"Lumos", said Harry, deciding to try it out. It glowed bright green, the same color as his eyes-not to mention the emerald eyes of Slytherin's serpent. The last thought gave him the goosebumps.  
Harry yawned and realized for the first time that he was tired, hungry, and sitting on the floor opening presents at 3:17 AM (a/n: and thats STANDARD time!!!) Noting the time, he decided to go to sleep and enjoy his presents in the morning. He switched off the light (a/n: not that it was on...), took off his glasses, and went to sleep.  


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A/N: sorry about htis being such slow and short chapter, at this rate,  
I'll have about twenty. Read, which you have already done, and reveiew, luv ya!


	2. The Gryptorr Stone

Thank you for all the offers to beta my story but I learned how to do it all by myself! yay!! I know that chapter one was very short and uneventful but that was because I didn't feel like typing anymore and I wanted to actually get the chapter up. This was supposed to be part of chapter 1 but im "busy". This one isn't really longer but things actually happen (ooooh), not really.Thanks for the reviews! I was so excited when I saw that I actually got more than two! Hope you like this chapter.   
  
  
  
Chapter 2  
  


Five hours later, Harry woke with a start. Sitting up, slightly dazed, he realized that he had just been hit with his lavender (a/n: very fashionable...) quill. Slowly raising his head, afraid of what was coming, he made eye contact with his crabby aunt.  
  
"Wake up already!! Dudley woke up at least ten minutes ago! What is he going to say when he sees no breakfast waiting for him? I have to do all the work around here!", said Petunia Dursley as angrily as she could, a hint of fear still blazing in her eyes.  
  
"He doesn't need a breakfast..."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I said, I'm coming!"He waited for her to leave before getting out of bed and deciding it would be a better idea to open the rest of the presents after breakfast, went downstairs.   
  
Harry walked into the kitchen much more cheerful than he had been before. Pulling out a chair next to Dudley, he wished them all a "Good Morning". Aunt Petunia muttered a "hello". Dudley muttered something that sounded like "You too" or "New Glue" through a mouthful of food. Uncle Vernon, on the other hand, gave him a small smile and said "Good Morning! Did you sleep well?" not really expecting an answer. Eversince his return from Hogwarts, his uncle had been exceptionally civil and sometimes even nice to him. For what reason, he didn't know, but he had a feeling that he wanted something.   
  
The rest of breakfast passed by fine. Dudley had six strawberries, an orange, and half a bowl of whole wheat cereal topped with sliced bananas and about a teaspoon full of sugar for flavor while Uncle Vernon had four servings of bacon and eggs. This summer, Dudley was continuing his diet but in a different way. Seeing that Dudley wasn't losing weight at all on the old method of feeding him one fruit per meal (probably because he snuck lots of yummy Entenmann's chocolate fugde cakes and other Entenmann's and Peperridge Farm products or anyhting that has chocolate into his room when no one was looking...mmm), Aunt Petunia started giving him several fruits, vegetables, and grains in each meal. It was actually working, now Dudley only took up about seven-eighths of his side of the table. There was still one flaw, from Dudley's point of view, to this plan. The rest of the family didn't have to follow his diet which was something that he complained endlessly about. It looked as though he was just about to start when Uncle Vernon cleared his throat. Instictively, everyone present looked up.  
  
"Happy Birthday, Harry", he said with a strained smile and a complexion going from Cappuccino to Raspberry.  
  
"Erm... thankyou..." Uncle Vernon's courtesy was getting very disturbing.  
  
"I have some news for you. For your birthday this year, we were thinking that maybe... you would like to... you could go to that red-headed freind of yours, whats his name? John? Anyway, we were wondering if you were thinking of going there this summer." Uncle vernon finished with that same smile glued on his face except there was something else there that to Harry looked disgustingly like hope.  
  
"Actually, I'm going to my friend Hermione's house. She'll be here to pick me up on Tuesday at 6:00. Her parents are mu- like you guys so they should be arriving by car." Harry was grateful for having such an easy time asking permission.  
  
"Tuesday, eh? Well, Marge is coming tomorrow... rats! That means you'll be here with her for a whole day." Now he and his wife exchanged meaningful glances. Petunia's seemed to say, "Can't we just throw him out?". Vernon' replied, "Remember what happened last time we got him mad??".  
  
As this significant conversation continued, Harry groaned loudly (and very rudely). Aunt Marge? Coming again? Last time he'd seen her, he had somehow managed to inflate her whole body to the point that it was actually floating in midair. At least it would only be for a day. As he left the table to do some present opening, he had to stifle a laugh at the stupid looks on his aunt and uncle's faces, they seemed to be talking and gesturing to each other and trying very hard not to move their lips.   
  
Upon walking into his room the first thing Harry spotted, glinting in the sunlight, was the foe-glass Hermione gave him. The crystal framing the delicate mirror was cut very carefully and looked sharp, but when Harry touched the tips, they felt like dough. He looked into the mirror and saw a circle and a dot in the middle. He put the dark detector on his bedside table and decided to take another look at Ron's present. Chewing on some fudge, he said the magic word and watched his whole room light up with bright green light. Placing the glostick next to the foe-glass, he pulled out the letter from the barn owl.   
  
Harry-  
  
Happy birthday! How are you doing? I'm staying with Remus   
but since I come up to Hogwarts all the time, I've decided to send   
this from here. I might just see you at Hermione's next week. She   
sent a letter asking Dumbledore's permission whether to invite you   
or not. Has your scar been giving you any trouble? If it does, contact   
Dumbledore immediately. In the envelope I sent is your birthday   
present. Its from Dumbledore, Remus, Hagrid, and me.   
  
  
Sirius   
  
Harry found a crumpled up peice of tissue paper inside the letter's envelope.He opened it up with sweaty fingers and uncovered a pendant. It was made of two circular, clear, misty red stones connected with a diagonal strip of gold. Like that!!--  
o ---A  


_|_  
O`- ,O  
(the middle is a solid line)  
  


It looked a lot like a pair of lop-sided glasses. He glanced back at the tissue paper and noticed a completely transparent chain. It looked like bendable glass and felt like string. Harry supposed this was what he was supposed to wear the pendant with so he put it through the loop (A, as shown on diagram) and instantly felt it warm up. The warmth spread throughout his body. First at his fingers, then his arms, his chest, torso, legs, and just as it reached his ears and his cheeks, it stopped. He suddenly felt very empty and the warmth slowly died away. He glanced at the tissue paper once more and saw tiny golden letters dancing around and, after a couple of seconds, forming words. It read;  
  


-To The Golden Heir-  
Handed down from generation to generation   
for thousands of years, this pendant shall protect   
the Golden Heir from peril. Handle this with   
the care that your fore-fathers imposed upon it.    
  


And underneath that, in green writing, read this:   


  
Harry Potter, you are now the guardian of the Gryptorr stone.  


  
Harry finished reading the fine script, reread it about three times, and finally put it down. He was very confused and wondered why he was the golden heir. He also wondered what being the golden heir was supposed to mean. Did he inherit this from his father? Right now he hated Sirius for not providing him with more information as well as everone else who sent this.   
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud screech from the bird still lying on his bed. It was obviously getting homesick so Harry reached over and pulled the package off it's leg. As he did so, he took a longer look at the bird's strange appearance. It was definitely the most beautiful bird he had ever seen, even more so than Fawks. Its purple feathers looked as though they were polished daily and its talons were the color of pure gold, but what really caught Harry's attention were it's eyes. They looked like diamonds glued onto the bird's skull. Harry shuddered and looked away; it was really creepy to see no pupils or to not know in which direction the creature was looking. He finally untied the knot. As soon as he pulled the package away, the bird turned bright orange with a _pop! _and hurried out of his opened window. It flew towards the bright sun, dodged a tree, and rushed out of sight. He figured the bird wanted to get back to it's owner asap but couldnt help the feel of his stomach sinking.   
Harry stopped gazing out the window and picked up the package. He took off the green wrapping and found in his hands, a silver sphere about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. It reminded him of the golden egg from last year. It was hollow and even had a groove down the middle which ened in a tiny clasp. Curiously, he opened the clasp with his nails and instantly the entire room went a smoky black.   
Suddenly Harry's scar felt like fire. The pain was so intense he couldnt hold himself up. he dropped the sphere and collapsed to the floor. Lying on the beige carpet, he could see that the sphere was emmiting the black smoke.With all the strength he could muster, he reached his hand over to the sphere, thinking that if he closed it, the pain in his scar would subside and everything would go back to normal. As he enclosed the ball in his palm, pain like he had never felt before was cousing through him. It felt like someone had set his skin on fire while subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse. he tried to let go but his fingers felt glued on. In no time, he heard himself screaming in agony. Hefelt his eyes rolling to the back of his head, trying to rip themselves out of his skull. he saw uncle Vernon open the door to hius room, Aunt Petunia and Dudley cowering behind him. He looked enraged at the fact that Harry was making so much noise until he saw him lying on the floor covered in red scratch marks. Harry got one fleeting glimpse of Vernon Dursley walking cautiously towards him before the world went black.   


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a/n: is that a cliffhanger? cool, it is.oh yeah, all this stuff belongs to me if its not in the hp books... i cant tell u how much i've learned from this last month! b4 when i used to see h/r, or h/h, i used to b like, wtf? then i realized wat it was and in no time, my questions changed to "r/r, thats stands for Ron and...?"...anyways...i would like to thank the *6* wonderful people who reviewed my story and i luv you all!!!  
**blazing catarax**- thankyou cathy, ur dumb, wat r u _supposed_ to put in a review!?! god... good luck w/ ur story.  
**sirius**-thanki for reviewing, very meaningful words they were.. hurry up w/ bttf-11!!!  
**lily**- thankyou, it is a great story, lol  
**lillyphoenix**- i learned how to beta myself, but thanks neways, thanks for the review  
**dark raven**- ur so picky. i admit it, i type with two fingers!! theres bound to a hell of a lot of spelling errors!!!, thankyou  
**vmr**- u seem like a wo/man of few words but thanks newayz.  
  
  


  
r/r, ron and remus  
  
  
  
  



	3. New News

a/n: I hate kids! I've spent the last five minutes trying to wash out ice cream that my baby cousin put in my hair!!!...anyways, read n review.   
  
~:-:~  
_  
_

"What was it?"  
  
"A few more minutes and he'll be up....if I casted the charm right..."  
  
"Remus! 'DO-YOU-KNOW-WHAT-IT-WAS' is what I was asking! And what do you mean, **if**_ you casted the charm right?? You've done it before, haven't you?   
  
There was a noise that sounded like someone sobbing."What? Y-y-you casted the charm wrong? Is he going to stay like this forever?"  
  
"Relax everybody, just calm down. Dumbledore's going to be here any minute now, I _have _done this_ _spell before, and Harry should be waking up in the next ten minutes. If not, that means I _did_ cast it wrong and I'll just do it _again_, ok? Nothings going to happen to him..." There was a moment of silence before they heard the sound of the door clicking open, and Dumbledore walked into the room.   
_  
Harry heard but could not see. He wondered why for a few seconds before he realized that his eyes were closed. His brain seemed fogged, and every sound he heard seemed distant. After about three minutes of hard thinking, he comprehended the fact that he was lying on a bed and there were other people in the room; he recognized the voices of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Albus Dumbeldore nearest to him. He heard other voices more far off though. He tried to open his eyes but they felt unnaturally and glued together. _Maybe they **are** glued together_, he thought, slightly panicked.  
  
After a minute or so, when he decided his eyes woudn't open on their own, he lifted his right arm over his head and gently pulled opened his left eyelid. He had to pull because they were drenched in some sort of potion that closed them, numbed the pain, and made them feel ice cold. Now looking into the room, he saw that he was right. Seated to his right and left were Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, Remus Lupin, one of his late father's best friends, and Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. Farther away from his bed were Ron, Hermione and her parents, and another man that Harry couldn't recognize. Dumbledore now turned and looked at Harry, smiling as relief took over his previous worried expression. Lupin, too, looked relieved, and he grinned as he made eye-contact with Harry. He poked Sirius, who had his head bowed, and pointed in Harry's direction. Sirius slowly looked up and had the exact same reaction as Lupin as he gently pulled his godson's arm away from his eye. Harry now realized why they had smiled, he must have looked very silly with his right index finger pulling only his left eye open, leaving the other eye closed. He grinned and felt his dry lips almost tear and his cheeks burn. He quickly stopped and touched the area lightly while the adults surrounding him looked at him curiously.  
  
"Where a-" He had to stop because Madame Pomphrey now came in through a door at the left side of the bedroom and poured some thick orange liquid with swirls of something shiny and red and forced him to swallow. Almost choking, his first swallow was pleasantly sweet, the second and third however were so sweet that after he gulped, they left a very bitter aftertaste. The potion instantly gave him a warm sensation at he pit of his stomach. Madame Pomphrey watched him for a few seconds before she wet a small washcloth in some light blue liquid and wiped his face with it. Instantly he felt all the scars that the silver egg had given him vanish, except ofcourse the red lightning bolt on his forhead. Just when Harry opened his mouth to ask his question, the school nurse poured a vivid green, thick, and smoking potion down his throat. It tasted like salty water and made him feel like he was lying on a bock of ice. Madame Pomphrey quickly covered him with a thick blanket and watched her wristwatch, counting. After 30 seconds, she took the blanket off him and gave him a silver goblet filled with water to drink. Harry finally felt back to normal after he drained the goblet.  
  
"Where-" he began again. This time he was interupted by the door opening. In walked Severus Snape, Harry's loathsome potions master. Harry looked at Sirius, expecting him to sneer or throw Snape a dirty look. To his surprise, his godfather merely patted the chair next to him, indicating that he should sit down. Snape took the seat without hesitation and smirked at Harry's gaping face. Harry quickly closed his mouth and turned to Dumbledore to ask his long awaited question, but Dumbledore spoke before him.  
  
"Are you feeling better Harry?" he asked gently.  
  
"Yes, a lot better."  
  
"I believe you wanted to ask us something before you drank your potion?" The headmaster asked, his eyes twinkling in that knowing way.  
  
"Yeah, where are we?" asked Harry as Sirius attempted to put his glasses on for him, poking his left ear and ripping out a few strands of his hair that got tangled in the frames. Harry pulled them out of his grasp and put them on himself.   
  
"You are in Remus' house, Harry. Your uncle and aunt informed Sirius of your unconciousness through your owl. As you may already know, Sirius is currently residing with Remus so they informed me, traveled to Privet Drive, and brought you back here." Dumbledore let the information sink into Harry's head before he added "You have been here for two days."  
  
Harry looked at the old man and thought for a moment. The Dursleys contacted Sirius? Just the image of Aunt Petunia touching Hedwig seemed impossible to him. Now that he thought about it, what _had_ happened? He remembered opening the present from Ron...the one from Hermione...then he opened one from Sirius...  
  
His reveries were broken with the very question he was trying to answer for himself, "Can you tell us what happened, Harry?" asked Professor Dumbledore. He was looking at the boy in front of him with concern. He had no idea what to expect from his explanation this time.  
  
"Er..." Harry didn't quite know where to start, "I guess it all started out when I got my birthday presents"-he thought for a second-"Two days ago. I got them in the middle of the night..." he launched into the pointless story of how he woke up after his dream and his adventures of present opening. Somehow he felt he needed to mention the details. After about five minutes of explaining, he finally got to the part where he opened the bird's present. "It was some sort of um.. ball or an egg... it was a sphere and it was silver, about the size of-of-a snitch! Yeah...so I opened it- it could be opened, there was a clasp on one side- and at first a lot of black smoke filled the room. Then when I couldn't see anymore, my scar started hurting and then I ...I fell because of the pain"-he felt the color rising in his face, Snape was giving him a peircing look and at the same time it was obvious he trying best not to smirk-" and the last thing I saw was Uncle Vernon walking towards me and then I guess I passed out.." Everyone was silent for a moment before Lupin spoke.   
  
"Harry, can you describe the bird?" Dumbledore gave Lupin a curious look and then faced Harry, expecting an answer.  
  
"It was big, about 2 feet in height, um.. it was purple at first but then right before it left, it turned orange...." He couldn't really think of anything else to say.  
  
"Was there anything different about it's eyes?" Lupin anxiously leaned forward and the other man Harry hadn't recognized at first walked out of the shadows and towards his bed. He stood next to Lupin and looked at Harry with an expression of great curiosity mixed with something else- astonishment.   
  
"I don't remember... I don't think so... what do you mean by different?"  
  
"Did they look like gems?", asked Lupin, now Dumbledore was staring at Harry but it was nothing compared to the look on Lupin's face. He was leaning about a foot away from Harry's head and didn't even notice the dramatically worried expression on the other man's face as he placed one hand on his heart and the other on Lupin's shoulder. Snape looked mildly interested while Sirius looked clueless as to what they were talking about. As Harry looked at all their faces, getting nervous all the while, he thought about what Dumbledore asked and something flicked in his head. He remembered looking at the bird's eyes and being creeped out by their lack of pupils or anything that looked like an eye. They were white...they looked cut....glittering in the sunlight...  
  
"They looked like Diamonds!" exclaimed Harry. He was satisfied as he saw realization spread across Lupin's, Dumbledore's and the other man's faces. Snape and Sirius now looked confused. This man was really irritating Harry. He seemed so much in shock that he needed to sit down; since their were no seats he sat on Harry's bed, crushing Harry's right leg. Dumbledore seemed to notice Harry grimace at the man's back and he smiled at him, his eyes twinkling.   
  
"Harry, Darron, I don't believe you've been introduced. Darron, this is Harry Potter, you have heard of him, I daresay. Harry, this is Darron Rich, he will be your Dueling professor this year. I was having a meeting with Mr. Rich when I was called here and he decided to come along." Professor Rich quickly got up and shook hands with Harry. This time he stayed standing looking at Harry. Harry now faced him too. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was tall, built, nicely tanned and it was evident the was going to be the next Lockhart. Harry turned away and looked at the others.  
  
"Have you got any idea who sent me the sphere?" Harry had been waiting for an answer since he told them about the diamond eyes. It was Professor Lupin who answered.  
  
"Not quite, Harry. We know that the bird is a Pheilox, a member of the Phoenix family.This bird is extremely rare and there are only three in Europe. These three are closely watched by the Ministry of Magic and I don't believe your bird is one of them. Each Pheilox can only have two different shades of plumage. What colors did this particular one have, Harry?"  
  
"At first it was purple but right before it left, it turned orange." Harry saw a flicker of movement somewhere to his left. He looked around and saw Ron and Hermione move closer to smiling. He grinned back and saw Mr. and Mrs. Granger still sitting farthest away from him, smiling worriedly at him. He wondered why they were here.   
  
"Purple and orange?" It was Sirius who spoke. "What colors are the ones at the Ministry?"  
  
"One is green and orange, another is yellow and red, and the last is blue and green." answered Snape, looking at Dumbledore.   
  
"If there are no more questions, I think we should all go down to the Kitchen and have ourselves a nice supper." said Dumbledore, looking around at them all, he looked very stressed.  
  
"Professor, if..if... You-Know-Who is still in Europe, and their are only three Pheiloxes and their all with the Ministry, how did Voldemort sent the egg to Harry?" asked Hermione.   
  
"That, Miss Granger, is because it was not sent to Harry by Voldemort, but by a wizard far more powerful than he." he didn't seem to want to say anymore, "Now lets go eat, I'm sure you are all very hungry."  
  
"Headmaster, you must excuse me, I **need** to go **now**" said Snape, getting out of his seat and making his way to the door, Harry saw his arm twitch.  
  
"So soon? Go, go, I'll see you back at the school." The Grangers walked towards Dumbledore as he said this. They apparently had to get home and do some work. Dumbledore bid them farewell and they too walked out of the room. Harry got out of bed and started towards the door with Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Harry, are you alright?"  
  
"We were so worried when we got here."  
  
"Yeah I'm fine, did Dumbledore tell you to come here?" Harry asked his two best friends, he had been wondering why they were here.  
  
"Actually, my parents, Ron and I went to your house to pick you up about two hours ago. When we got there and asked for you, Your Uncle gave us a note Sirius left for us-he knew we were coming to pick you up-and it told us to come here." Hermione explained as Ron nodded beside her.   
  
"Hehe, and we saw your Aunt Marge, she's still really fat, are you sure they infalted her?" said Ron. Harry chuckled. It was nice to be back with his friends but there was something troubling him.  
  
"Do you guys know who Dumbledore was talking about, being more powerful than Voldemort?" He wondered if this wizard was in the Daily Prophet and whether Ron or Hermione had heard of him.  
  
"No"  
  
"I've never heard of him"  
  


  
~:-:~  
  
a/n: so, lemme tell you, I saw tombraiders; its a pretty good movie but its not as great as I thought it would be, theirs a lot of action so if you like stuff like that, go see it...i also so artificial intelligence, that was a great movie at first but the end is as boring as hell, i wanted to walk out of the theatre, its still a good movie and its still worth watching, just ignore the end, my jude law was of course perfect in it...anyways, review and tanks to all those who reviewed before, i gtg, bye 


	4. At the Grangers

a/n :hi all, toupee

a/n :hi all, toupee? What youhave hair? Well don't go around showing it of… god..huh? no, i can't cook. someone help me cook sumthing, im really hungry. gimme nice, simple, yet edible (i aint eatin no carrot sticks or celery w/ cream cheese or cottage cheese on a cracker ::spits in disgust::) recipes in ur reviews, ok? unless you want me starve...which im sure you dont. Boy George wears lots of make up, and in his video for 'do u really want to hurt me? do you really want to make me cry' ( i forgots the real name) he has really nice streaked hair....his red eyeshadow is kinda creepy, i dont think rouge is meant for the eyes... though theres plenty on his lips...

**~:-:~**

The door opened suddenly and a dull 'tap tap' was heard as Sirius made his way over to his godson's bed. He tapped him on the shoulder twice and said 'Wake up'. He stood there and watched as the boy rolled over on his back. He still didn't wake.

"Harry, wake up. It's ten-thirty." He said louder and more urgently. The boy nodded in a bemused way, eyes still closed, he seemed determined to keep them shut tight. Sirius shook his head and moved on to the two beds to Harry's right, demanding the same thing in a soft voice.

Two minutes later, Harry opened his eyes to a sea of yellow. He was facing the ceiling which seemed to go on forever. He reached out towards a bedside table, felt for his glasses, picked them up and put them on. Looking around, he saw that the walls and the ceiling were painted yellow. He had just been having that same exact dream. He sighed and decided that he would tell Dumbledore or Sirius about them today.It took him some time to remember that he was at Remus' house. 

He turned his head to his right and saw two beds. In the one nearest to him, he watched Hermione swing her legs over the side of her bed, pajamas wrinkled and pulled about a foot above its usual spot at her ankles (due to endless tossing and turning), and walk over to a mirror. She took off her hair band with considerable difficulty, as it was tangled in the frizzy heap, and ran her finger through it several times, somewhat straightening it. 

"Harry! You're awake! Now get up and stop watching me. Honestly! I can't believe that Sirius woke us up at ten-thirty! I'm usually up by eight at the latest! How ar-" She was interrupted by a muffled cry from Harry's right. He turned his head and saw Ron take the blanket off his head.

"Eight? Eight? Its eight o' clock? What was Sirius thinking?? Its like the crack of dawn!!!" said a grumpy Ron, sitting up instantly.

"Ron, its ten-thirty-" Harry started to reply, sitting up as well and looking at the clock. 

"Eight is well after the crack of dawn, Ron! And besides, its ten-thirty. Theres a clock right there, why don't you look at it?" he was interrupted and ignored by Hermione's indignant reply. Ron gave her a disgusted look and was just about to say something that would surely make Hermione's blood boil when Harry decided to change the subject.

"I really liked the presents you guys got me." Hermione instantly started beaming.

"Did you try your glow light? What color does it come out to?" Ron said, looking excited once more.

"Green, do you know if anyone brought my stuff back from the Dursley's?" He wanted to show them the gryptorr stone.

"Yeah, Sirius put it in this closet." Hermione pointed to a door to his left. "I think you're staying her for the rest of your vacation, Harry. I doubt Dumbledore would let you come to my house after what happened..." she trailed off, her eyes downcast.

"C'mon, lets go get something to eat" Ron said, walking towards the bathroom.

**-:- -:- -:-**

Ten minutes later, they were dowstairs in a small kitchen, sitting in three chairs at a small wooden table. Sirius was near the oven with a frying pan and a wand, cooking them breakfast. 

"Where's Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Call him Remus, he's not your teacher anymore, is he? He's out doing work for Dumbledore." They exchanged curios looks until the three of them started shaking with silent laughter when Sirius's spell went wrong and the fried bacon went flying around the room, bouncing off the walls and landed on their plates. He smiled down at his work and began cleaning the food so it would be edible with a few flicks of his wand.

"I was never very good at doing stuff like that, that was more James. At least its cooked!" he added brightly and turned back to the oven to finish up the eggs. They ate silently, Ron and Hermione smiling, watching Harry wolf down his food.

"What? I haven't eaten in two days!" he said indignantly, as he sprayed them with saliva and half-chewed meat. "Sorry" he added, grinning. He finished his food and watched his friends for a moment before turning to Sirius.

"Erm, Sirius?"

"Hmm?" he said, face covered by the Daily Prophet he was reading, sitting on the living room couch.

"Can I still go to Hermione's?" He asked hopefully. Ron looked up and Hermione put her fork down.

"Sure." They shared puzzled glances but said nothing more. 

After breakfast, they decided to go to Hermione's house, which was temporarily connected to the Floo Network. They each brought some of Harry's luggage downstairs and with them to the fireplace.

"When you throw the powder in, say 'The Grangers', apparently Muggle households don't have names." advised Sirius, bidding them farewell. He gave Harry a quick paternal hug, pat his back and carried his trunk over to him. "I might not be seeing you at all this year, I'll try to stay in touch, though. Have a good time, and don't get into too much trouble."

Hermione threw some sparkling purple powder into the fire, held tight to Harry's brown shopping bag that held all the clothes Sirius and Remus had managed to find that night, and bellowed 'The Grangers'. She was gone in a whisp of smoke. Now Ron and Harry were going to go through together so both could hold onto Harry's trunk. Ron grabbed a handle and Harry followed suit as Sirius placed two boxes and another shopping bag on top of the load. He threw a handful of powder into the fire for them and said goodbye.

"Do you want to say it?" Ron asked, grinning. He knew the Floo network wasn't Harry's favorite way to travel.

"Sure, you need anything at Knockturn Alley? Hurry up, this is getting heavy." 

"The Grangers!" he yelled. They watched as the waving figure of Sirius swirled out of sight to be replaced by a whirlpool of colors. Every fraction of a second, a new fireplace would pop up in front of them, only to disappear as suddenly as it came. They held onto the trunk tightly and came to a sudden stop in front of a brick fireplace. Harry stumbled and fell to the floor as Ron did the exact same thing. The trunk came crashing down, narrowly missing their toes and legs while the boxes landed on Ron and the bag's contents, mostly quills and ink pots, toppled onto Harry's face.

"Are you okay?" asked Hermione anxiously as she started moving the boxes and bags and made a fruitless attempt to pick up the trunk. They didn't answer but took her her hand when she offered it and got to their feet, rubbing soot off all the way.

"Hello, come sit down, Ron. And you must be Harry. I'm Hermi's father." a man just walked into the room wearing a plain black t-shirt and khaki-colored pants. He was a handsome man in his late thirties and had short brown hair that was so tightly curled it looked like a brillo pad. 

"Erm... yeah, hi." said Harry. He took Hermione's father's hand as he extended it and smiled politely as it was crushed by his exceptionally strong grip. He watched the man walk over to Harry's trunk, picked it up and take it upstairs, grinning at them and showing off his straight, even, bright, white teeth.

"So....." Harry said as he looked around the room he had fallen into. There was a couch and several armchairs scattered around the fireplace and the television set. Harry watched as Ron walked up to the TV set and started pushing the buttons, none of which worked since it wasn't turned on. When he pressed the large, round, green button, a sudden sound of gunshots rang out and Ron yelled and jumped back as a man in a cowboy hat faced the audience, shooting his gun at them in rapid succesion. Ron had a look of shock plastered on his face and was slowly backing away into Harry as Hermione grabbed the remote and changed the channel to Barney. Harry started laughing at Ron while Hermione tried her best not to.

"You- you (peels of laughter) never saw a- a TV?" asked Harry, on the floor, shaking with laughter.

"No!" said Ron indignantly, turning red with humiliation and falling into a blue armchair. The others sat across fromhim in identical chairs and they sat talking for a while. 

"So, Hermi, anything new?" asked Ron obnoxiously. 

"Oh, shut up, I've been trying to convince my dad to stop calling me that for years." 

"Yeah, Hermi, weren't you supposed to visit Victor Krum, did you?" asked Harry, suddenly remembering Hermione's famous Quidditch playing boyfriend. She turned a mild shade of pink while Ron tried his hardest trying to look as though he wasn't interested by staring into space. 

"Yeah, I did for about a week. My parents came along though, so it turned out to be some sort of vacation to Bulgaria. We didn't have much time together." She answered sadly. There was a moment of silence and then Hermione's dad came in with a box of sugar-free sweets. They thanked him and he went away. 

"So" said Hermione, picking up a sour ball, "Fred and George got a shop?" 

"Yeah, in some village in Scotland. They tried to get a place in Diagon Alley but its way too expensive, theres a lot of demand. Dad's okay with their decision now that its settled and they have a store and all but mum still says they should've gone into the ministry. I reckon it'll be cool having a joke shop, Fred and George said they'll give us free merchandise whenever they can...." Ron finished with a faraway look, as though he was imagining himself in a heap of Canary Creams and Dungbombs, throwing them one by one at Malfoy.

"Do you guys want to go to Diagon Alley today?" suggested Hermione thoughtfully.

"Yeah lets go." said Harry until he remembered that he didn't have a supplies list.

"I didn't get my Hogwarts letter yet, did you?" asked Ron.

"Nope." he replied.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Thats strange, doesn't it usually come on the thirty first? Today's the third..." Hermione trailed off. After a long pause she said, "Let me show you your rooms."

They followed her out of the room with the hearth and found themselves in a hallway with white walls and a velvety burgundy carpet. They walked up a flight of broad wooden stairs with a golden, well polished banister and came to a landing with the same velvety carpet but this time navy blue. They were in another well lit corridor with three doors on the right and four on the left. She led them through, pointing out her parents bedroom, a bathroom, a closet, two guest rooms, her own room, and a game room that had a pool table, ping-pong table, and a table set up with gobstones (apparently she had taught her parents and cousins how to play). Ron's room had white walls with a brown woodish trim and a rich reddish brown velvety carpet. Harry's had white walls with a blue trim and a matching velvety carpet. 

"Do you like it?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, its great!" exclaimed Ron, Harry nodded. Hermione looked happier and told them to come downstairs and have some lunch.

**-:- -:- -:-**

Two days after their arrival, Hermione had decided to cancel her Art lessons ('They're so boring and I really can't imagine how they would ever come in handy in my future. I mean, have you ever seen books written about art? Honestly, how useless!!'). The rest of their vacation was fun but the trio still hadn't recieved Hogwarts letters and were getting worried by their last week of vacation. Ron had owled his parents asking if his brothers and sisters had gotten theirs but the reply was disappointing. Hedwig was sent to Sirius and Remus asking if Harry's letter had arrived there but their reply was negative as well. Two days before the start of term, Harry desperately decided to call the Dursleys. The conversation went like this.

"Hello?" a woman's deep, gruff voice asked politely.

"Hello? Aunt Petunia? Its Harry. Di-"

"This isn't Petunia, its your Aunt Marge! Have they been hitting you over the head at summer school? What, too stupid to be allowed a valid vacation? I always said you were an idiot, just like your parents. Now what do you want?"she asked as Ron and Hermione who were listening in opened their eyes wide in horror and clenched their fists tightly.

"Can you give it to Uncle Vernon?" he said roughly, he didn't have any patience for Aunt Marge right now.

"Vernon is at work, like respectable men should be. Unlike your father, he has enough sense to realize that a job is more important that drinking his ass off, getting himself killed and landing his poor sister-in-law with you!" she snarled. Harry, completely ignoring this rude statement said,

"Okay, is Aunt Petunia there then? It's really important."

"Got yourself into trouble did you? Hold on, she's right here." Harry heard her say in a very audible voice 'Petunia, dear, that Potter boy called from the center. Says its important, probably got into trouble again.' then in a loud whisper, 'Just ask for a double beating, that should set the weasel right'. A moment later;

"What do you think your doing, calling here? And I thought you-you- you...People don't use machines like this. Hold on, Marge? Why don't you go help yourself to some fruits in the kitchen. I'll go join after I'm done with this. Now what do you want??"

"Did you get a letter from Hogwarts by mail or by owl about the new term and my supplies?" Harry didn't care about saying his school name to Aunt Petunia, all she could do is scold him until next year.

"No I did not!" she spat into the phone and hung up immediately. Harry hung up as well and looked at his friends, "You heard her. I don't know what we're going to do."

"This year the prefects are chosen too, three for each house, and I'm sure Hermione would have gotten a letter and her badge for that. I even asked dad about and he said he had no idea what was going on." 

"We'll find out what happens on the train the day after tomorrow. It'll be alright, I mean the teachers can't punish us since we didn't get letters. Maybe they were intercepted or they didn't get out or maybe the owls died. I don't think Hogwarts blew up or anything...it would have been in the Daily Prophet..." she said, trying to reassure herself and the others. they all looked out the window, miserably, willing three Hogwarts barn owls to come through those plastic frames. 

They never came.

~:-:~

howdya like it? im kinda screwed, i have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this story though have thought up some brilliant plots that I can't use here because of what I've already done, I'll try to tie a couple in though...please review, as they say, 'be a responsible reader and review' i think...well i dont have it in front of me but its something like that.. neways... buh bye, talk to me on line...

REVIEW!!!!


	5. Spies of Calais

A/N: ok, I think this is my favorite chapter so far

A/N: ok, I think this is my favorite chapter so far. Why? I don't know, its pretty. Anyways, I was very disappointed with the last chapter and my lack of reviews. I only got three reviews, I think… And AOL has been a bástárd to me as well, they won't let me upload chapters or go to any sites…-::::::sigh::::::-…read and review please.

Students streamed into the halls as soon as the first bell rang, signaling the end of breakfast. The younger youth ran hurriedly into classrooms to their right and left. The others took their time, conversing as they strolled down the path to their destinations. Another small bell tinkled magically from somewhere in the depths of the school. This elegant sound signaled the start of their first lessons. The halls were nearly empty now, except for a few careless students and every once in a while, a prankster or two. 

A girl with thick, curly, black hair walked out of the Grand Hall. She stopped about five feet from the door and bent her head over her bag. She took out a black hair band that matched her robes and tied her hair back, taking her time. Another girl wearing violet robes with straight, brown, waist-length hair walked out of the Grand Hall and closed the huge redwood doors behind her; they were the last ones out. The two girls walked down the corridor together to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Monique, are we late? Do you think we will be in trouble?" asked the straight haired girl carelessly with a thick French accent, sneering at a few first years that shrank under her gaze.

"Colette, _what_ is today's date?" asked Monique with an accent to match her friend's.

"The thirtieth of August… what does it matter?" Colette answered, thinking hard, was it Monique's birthday?

"Remember? Monsieur will be absent today so the substitute cannot yell. He gave us a schedule last year, you know, of those meetings he has?" she turned to her friend and saw her looking puzzled. "Oh, Colette, sometimes I think someone must have flushed your brain down the toilet!" she snapped as realization dawned on Colette's face.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! I hate this teacher's schedule! He is always going to meetings! I wonder what idiot substitute we are having today. Anyone is better than what we had last time." Colette replied apologetically. A pearly white ghost appeared in front of them through a side wall. She had thick white glasses and sported a notepad and quill. Her old fashioned robes were garnished with an elegant blue ribbon. She glared at them.

"The start of class bell has already sounded!!! You are almost late! I will have to take you to the Principal's office in another thirty seconds! Hurry, or come with me!" She said sternly, yelling every word clearly, making her voice boom through the halls.

"Oh, shut up! Can't you see we're trying to get to class?" Monique yelled as she walked right passed it, Colette catching up a few feet behind her.

They had reached the end of the corridor and turned into a large room to their right. Presently there was a young woman with her back turned to them, shuffling through a cabinet. She had long, white-gold hair that ended at her waist. Colette and Monique slipped into two seats in the front row. They took out their books and sat facing front, hands folded, as they do in every other class. 

A small bell tinkled elegantly throughout the school. This was the true late bell, the one the students are sent to the principal's office for, if they arrive after it sounds. The young woman stood up, faced the class and smiled brightly. Her eyes flicked to Colette and Monique, to whom she shot a patronizing look for being late. She looked around the class, smiling beautifully, making every male's heart float away. She turned to a black board and traced letters on it with her wand, delicately. They spelled out 'Madame Delacour'.

"Hello class. I am Madame Delacour. I will be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts for the next hour because your teacher could not attend class today. Lets speak in French today since I know it and understand it." She said every word with smile. Even though she spoke English fluently, she decided to show it off at another time and let these kids speak with ease. Madame Delacour started making a list of topics they had already covered on the board. She had her back turned as students, mostly boys, called out previous lessons.

"I don't think she is human. Look at the boys." Colette whispered quietly in French, giggling at the goggling faces of seventeen fifteen-year-old boys.

"Perhaps they are idiots, or maybe she is part Veela. Her French has a southern twist to it. The south is practically made up of veelas these days." Monique replied thoughtfully.

"Okay class, lets turn to page three eighty four. Who would like to read this passage on counter-curses?" Madame Delacour asked the class. All the boys, and a few girls raised their wands. The young professor smiled at a brown haired boy in the front row who began reading immediately. He was interrupted by a soft click at the door.

"Come in." asked Madame Delacour curiously. A plain looking ghost wearing old fashioned robes and an almost bald head glided into the room. He put away his clicker and stood facing Madame Delacour.

"Monsieur Lumiere would like Monique Chevalier and Jean Rovelli to attend a meeting in his office now." The ghost said importantly.

"Will Miss Chevalier and Mr. Rovelli accompany the ghost to the principal's office, please?" asked Madame Delacour, switching back to English, it was something she did when she was startled. Monique stood up and walked out the door, giving Colette a puzzled look. A tall, handsome boy with tightly curled black hair walked with Monique, shrugging at his friend and smiling at her. 

They followed the ghost up a glossy staircase that seemed to be made of ice, but not nearly as cold, and into a red walled and gold tiled corridor. They stopped at a huge gold door, trimmed with elegant red designs of foliage. The ghost took out his clicker, which to Monique resembled a remote control that she had seen in Muggle Studies. He clicked it three times and a deep voice said 'Come in'. 

They walked into a circular room with mirrored walls. At the far end of the room, was a beautifully carved wooden bear. It shifted uncomfortably under the weight of a huge smoothly cut piece of glass that was apparently stuck to it. On top of the desk were several rolls of parchment, quills, and a barn owl. Around the room were several squishy bean bags and comfortable armchairs, and three crimson and gold striped file cabinets. Finally, behind the bear-desk, sat Monsieur Lumiere, a tall man with an ugly sneer pasted on his face that made his otherwise tolerable features look distorted and sinister. He waved them inside and asked them to sit down. Monique and Jean sat side by side in two silver bean bags. The ghost flew across the room and squeezed itself into a small clear plastic bottle. 

"Good morning Jean, Monique." He said expectantly. 

"Good morning Monsieur Lumiere." They said in unison.

"I have called you two here regarding the requests that your parents made." They looked at him, puzzled. He sighed and explained impatiently, "Your parents have requested an exchange program between Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and The Wizarding Institute of Calais. We have not been able to fulfill their wishes completely but if you are willing, I have arranged for you to get the rest of your education at Hogwarts, starting the day after tomorrow. Tell me if you agree to that." Jean nodded, not at all hesitant. Monique, however, had to think about it. 

Why in the world would her crabby, ill-tempered adoptive parents want her to go to Hogwarts? It seemed as if they were placed on the earth to make her life miserable. For as long as she could recall, her father had been bossing her around, teaching her cruel spells and blackmailing her if she told anybody of it. Her mother never even pretended to like her. She had wondered on many occasions why they had even adopted a child. All that Monique Chevalier knew about her background was that she was born in England and left in an orphanage. She didn't even know her real last name. And now she didn't know why her parents wanted her back there. After all, they were always talking about what a horrible place England is and how Monique should be grateful that they rescued her from such a hellhole. 

"Miss Chevalier?" asked a booming voice, pushing into her thoughts. Monique looked up at the sneering face of her headmaster. She thought about it for another minute. Going to Hogwarts meant that she would leave her parents at last. She could do well without Colette, she wasn't much of a friend. Maybe in England she could look for her biological family. Get information on them if they really are dead as her parents said…

"Yes. Yes, I'll do it." She said at last.

"Excellent." Monsieur Lumiere folded his hands and dismissed them. He nodded at his messenger ghost who disappeared with a pop to deliver the message and stared hungrily into space.

-:- -:- -:-

Minerva McGonagall sat in her office, preparing lesson plans for next week's first classes. She heard a small yelp from outside her door. With a creak, it opened five inches and a small owl flew in. Wondering how it managed to open the door, she opened the letter tied to it's leg. She read the two sentences, threw the paper down, and puffed out of the room. She ran up to a stone gargoyle and yelled 'Godiva!', wondering once again, what in the world that was supposed to mean. She flew up the already moving steps, quite unsteadily, and banged on the door. She heard a faint 'Come in', slammed the door open and stomped up to the old headmaster's desk. 

She said as calmly and as collectively as she could, "Professor, I have gotten countless owls this week with the exact same message on each! It seems that students still haven't-"

"-Received their supply lists or admissions in the case of first years. I know, I know, Minerva. I've gotten a few myself." Professor Dumbledore said through a sip of his morning coffee. "Come in, Remus.", he said turning to the still-open door where Remus Lupin stood, wearing robes in relatively good conditions. The man walked in, looking amusedly at Minerva McGonagall's balled up fists.

"Have you heard? We have sent out at least three owls to each student so far with their supply lists, admission slips, and what not and apparently none have reached them! Now I've been getting owls every ten minutes with complaints!!" she fumed once more, looking extremely frustrated.

"Yeah, the most recent one pecked my head into opening your door." He said gravely, massaging his head. "Do you know what's intercepting the owls?" 

"No. I'm working on a way to get them the letters however." He said to McGonagall, then he turned to Lupin, "Anything new? Do you want to quit?" asked Dumbledore as McGonagall left, to complain to another one of her colleagues, no doubt.

"No, I have no reason to right now, but I might soon. Lumiere seems suspiciously concerned for me and desperately wants me teaching at his school, however. He's sending two students here for the year, I believe?"

"Yes, Monique Chevalier and Jean Rovelli. Apparently their parents insisted on their coming here. Do you have any idea why?" he asked intently, looking over his half-moon glasses.

"No, but it seems peculiar to me. The girl – Monique – I've been teaching her for about a year and a half. She's an orphan, and said that she was born in England. Her adoptive parents supposedly hated it so much here that they decided to move to France to give her a better life. She comes by my office quite often, just to chat most of the time, she seems very lonely."

"Does she have friends?" asked Dumbledore, slightly concerned.

"Well, she travels with a group of girls most of the time, but so does everyone else. I've never seen her make an attempt to be friendly. Maybe coming to Hogwarts will be good for her." He said walking towards the door.

"Where are you running off to, you have the whole day off. Why don't you stay for lunch?"

"Snuffles said he needed to work something out with me and I need to pay a visit to Arabella. I'll come back later, goodbye." said Lupin, descending the stairs to the stone gargoyle. 

"Yes, later." Dumbledore stood up and closed the door. Just as he did, a ghost glided in from the side wall and bowed low to old man. He stood up, smoothed his robes and walked up to the headmaster's desk just as the man himself sat down behind it. 

He cleared his throat loudly. "Messenger and Servant of Monsieur Lumiere, headmaster of The Wizarding Institute of Calais." He said, sticking his nose up in the air and puffing out his chest pompously.

"What can I do for you?" smiled Dumbledore.

"Monsieur Lumiere has sent me here with a message. I am to inform you that it is final. Mademoiselle Chevalier and Monsieur Rovelli will begin their fifth year of training in wizardry at Hogwart's day after tomorrow. They will arrive on the train to Hogsmeade and be escorted with their peers." He bowed once more after Dumbledore nodded, straightened up and walked through the window, to the grounds. There was a knock at the door. For the third time that day, the words 'Come in' passed through the old man's lips. Severus Snape walked in.

"I couldn't help but overhear, Professor. That was a ghost?" he asked looking around the room.

"Yes, a very pompous one indeed," he said with a smile, "What brings you here, Severus?"

"I was just called. Voldemort seems sure that he will get Potter this year. He still doesn't trust me; I asked him why he thought he could defeat Potter and he threw a fire jinx at me, I ducked it but it got a bit of my finger…" he held up his burned right index finger. The second he did, Fawkes the phoenix flew across the room from his perch and started crying on the finger. Snape watched, slightly startled as it healed instantly. He flexed it and turned to Dumbledore again. "He mentioned something about having inside help. As soon as he did, two death eaters nodded, I couldn't tell who they were however. Can you make anything of it?"

"Hmm… did he mention anything about Calais?"

"Erm… no he didn't but I suspect Lumiere may have something to do with it. The two followers that nodded usually show up at meetings with word from Lumiere or information from the school."

"Perhaps something will arrive on the Express."

-:- -:- -:-

Ronald Weasley walked into the Granger's kitchen the next morning, scratching is flaming head. He had changed into a pair of black jeans and a red t-shirt and sank heavily into one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table. Hermione was sitting next to him with a piece of toast that she had been nibbling on.

"Hi, Ron. Did you sleep well?" asked Mrs. Granger, setting down a plate of buttered toast in front of him.

"Not really. What was all that racket in the middle of the night? Its not always like that is it? Was I just hearing things?" he asked sleepily.

"No." she laughed, "I think the noise was from our new neighbors across the street. They moved in yesterday. Your father went over to visit them. They're a couple, the Fletchers." She looked around, "Where's Harry?"

"Right here," said Harry sitting down and poking at his toast in the same half-hearted way as Ron, "What was all that noise?"

"New neighbors." Said Hermione shortly.

"Its funny, I swear I heard someone scream 'Sirius Black' in all the racket." said Harry, turning to Hermione, "Are they wizards or was I just dreaming?" he asked as Mrs. Granger walked out of the kitchen-dining room.

"I don't know… we can go check." Hermione had just barely finished her sentence when a streak of red flew in through the window, hit the wall and fell on the floor. The trio leapt off their seats and looked at the floor where the red something had crashed. It appeared to be a red paper airplane. Harry picked it up and opened it while Ron walked up to the open window to see who or what threw it.

"What is it?" Hermione asked Harry, she was standing facing him while he read the letter.

"Our Hogwarts letters." Said Harry while reading the list.

"The Bloody Barron!" exclaimed Ron, pointing to something out the window.

"What?" Hermione said, running to the window, Harry following her. The sinister Slytherin ghost turned around when Ron had called his name and he glided up to the window.

"Did you throw this airplane?" asked Harry cautiously; none of them had ever tried speaking to this ghost before. He glared at them for a moment before nodding.

"How did you…_hold_ it?" asked Ron, wondering if this was a sensitive subject. He pointed to a ghost-bag on his back; it was filled with similar solid letters.

"Why are the ghost delivering them to us?" asked Hermione eagerly, as if this was a regular class and she didn't already know the entire lesson plan. He ignored her and ran out of the Granger's yard, to the next household. 

"Weird. I wonder what's wrong with the owls." said Ron, still looking out the window.

"Who cares what's wrong with owls! We have to go to Diagon Alley today. Its going to be so crowded, we should go right now!" said Hermione, in a mild state of panic.

"After breakfast, Hermione." Harry said through a mouthful of toast.

-:- -:- -:-

A click sounded outside Monsieur Lumiere's office. He sighed, exasperated. Chaos had struck in a third year potions classroom and some idiotic girl practically blew up the whole thing. He had been calculating the expenses and it turned out that it would take approximately seven thousand galleons to fix. He had thought about making the room less extravagant by leaving out the gold floor tiles, the platinum window frames, or the crystal windows themselves but just the image of a room without such luxuries made his steel heart sink with shame. Another click was heard, and he sighed once more.

"Come in." the ghost walked in tentatively, he knew his master was in a flammable mood.

"What horrible news have _you_ brought me?" he snarled.

"Headmaster, I don't bring bad news, important news. I was just at Dumbledore's office to deliver your message; you know the one about the exchange students. I stood in between the walls of his office and another classroom, very cleverly indeed. I did it because I thought I would like to catch the man at a time when he is alone. So I stood in between the doors, master, and I listened and saw a little too, but just a little bit, not enough to make out faces, or even gender-"

"Get to the point!" he barked at his servant.

"Yes, master. I stood in between the walls and heard a lot. First, someone walked into the room and they discussed something about how the students haven't been receiving letters. What letters could they have been talking of?" he asked curiously.

"Hogwarts students receive letters at the beginning of term. I believe they are admission slips or supply list or something like that. Stupid idea, really, to trust those _children _with anything. Dumbledore should do as we do and provide supplies for his students, it's the practical way." He said, distracted. Then he snapped back and waved his hands for the ghost to continue.

"He said there were problems with the owls. Then someone else walked in and he joined the conversation. After the first person walked out, they talked about the exchange students and he asked the person if he wanted to quit or something like that, I don't quite remember." He paused to think.

"That's what I get for having a ghost for a messenger!" Lumiere muttered under his breath. "Get on with it." He said impatiently.

"Ok, sorry that's all I remember of the second visitor. He walked out and then I walked in and gave Dumbledore the message. Then, I'm sorry master, I walked out through the outer wall. I sensed someone else walked in to the room and I wanted to listen but I couldn't get back in, there must be some shield charms or anti-ghost charms on it." The ghost finished.

"That information was pointless and not at all important. Why did you feel you had to tell me?" the man said, very disappointed.

"Pardon me, master. On my way here, I was still able to remember the information but I suppose there was a lot and it seemed important to me, especially the second man's words but I don't remember now at all….do you?" asked the ghost politely.

"Only what you told me. You are a two thousand year old ghost, did you know that? Your age is the only reason you can't remember anything more than a sentence! I really ought to get a new messenger…" he trailed off, looking into space and waving his finger at the clear plastic bottle. The ghost muttered 'two thousand years! My, that is a long time! I don't remember being _that_ old!' and squeezed once more into the bottle. Lumiere pulled a piece of parchment out of his filing cabinet and began writing to a letter to the owner of _Café a la Magic_, including a specific list of furniture and supplies to buy from the hidden alley behind the shop for his now destroyed potions laboratory.

K, that's all, didya like it? I think I change my mind, its not that good a chapter, I know it waskinda confusing. If you have any questions, ask in your reviews and I'll try to answer them… oh yeah, review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REVIEW!!!, please?


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